Subscribe to ONews

ONews is aimed straight at those we help every day: events professionals.

No hard sell, no cheering for the home team - ONews isn't about us, it's about you. Helping you to discover new speakers, new industry trends, the hottest venues and the latest from the frontlines of the events industry.

Ron Barassi

Specialty Areas

In a span of 25 years early in his senior football career Ron took part as player, captain or coach ? in 17 Grand Finals to take home 10 Premiership cups. That is a rate of 2 grand finals every 3 years. He was vice-captain of his club at the age of 21, captain at 24, captain and coach at 29, and non-playing coach at 33.

He played 204 VFL/AFL games with the Melbourne Football Club and 50 with the Carlton Football Club. He represented Victoria 18 times, gained All Australian selection in 3 successive interstate carnivals and was chosen as All-Australian captain in 1961.

Ron's coaching career of more than 500 games, includes the legendary 1970 Carlton Premiership, an inspired win after being down 44 points at half time (in front of an Australian record crowd of 121,696); North Melbourne's first Premiership Flag in 1975; and that club's 1977 Grand Final replay victory at the end of a record 5 consecutive finals.

He is a Life member of 4 AFL clubs, plus the AFL itself, a record in AFL history. A Legend in his 4 AFL Clubs, a Legend in the AFL Hall of Fame, in 2006 Ron received the highest honour - Legend in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.

One of the great innovators of the game, Ron pioneered the ruck rover/midfield role, fuelled the handball revolution and the focus on skills. He took the coaches from ground level up into the stands. He was the first to wear moulded soles on his boots and to replace the traditional steak pre-game lunch with a high energy powdered drink. He captained Melbourne in Australian football's first trip to America, and captain-coached the first Australian team to play the Irish in Ireland and New York at their own game (1967 and 1968). This inspired his football experiment in the 1980s of bringing over young Irish recruits to play in the VFL/AFL, the most successful being 1991 Brownlow Medal winner Jim Stynes.

One of the early movers and shakers in promoting the idea of a national competition, Ron's standing in the football community and his media profile led to his appointment in mid-season 1993 as coach of the Swans, after more than 7 years of retirement. In his role as coach, and a further 8 years as an active member of the Board, Ron is regarded as a significant influence in the Swans' Sydney history.

In "retirement" Ron is still in great demand on the public speaking circuit. Since his first talk at a South Pacific Regional IBM Conference in 1976 Ron has given over 1100 presentations as a motivational and keynote speaker. These days, hot topics among corporate and community audiences are his active lifestyle, fitness and adventurous exploits, as well as the ?old war stories' from his playing and coaching career.

Ron's 70th birthday year, 2006, was big by any calculation. He completed the arduous Kokoda Track, "walked on water" in the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games and took flight in a tandem parachute jump. He was named Melburnian of the Year, Healthy Ageing Citizen of the Year and elevated to ?Legend? in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Since then he has travelled to Dubai, South of France, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Laos, Vietnam, USA, Mexico, Cuba, China, Japan, South Korea and Israel. In July, 2008, he completed a 9 day 450km bike ride in Outer Mongolia.

Accolades for chivalry in 2009 followed Ron being bashed while going to the aid of a woman being assaulted outside a restaurant in St Kilda on New Year's Eve. He was voted 3rd most chivalrous Australian (1st by Victorians) and made Knight of the Order of St Thomas of Acre, an Order started by Richard the Lionheart during the Crusades. In July 2009, he was named Victorian of the Year.

Other speakers you might like:

Scott is the Conflict Whisperer and the Fun Maker! Scott is known as the most engaging, insightful & fun speaker in the conflict resolution arena. He has presented to more than 10,000 professionals and is in high demand as a keynote speaker and workshop facilitator.

Scott has been awarded CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) designation - the highest international measure of speaking competence. He is accredited as one of Australia's top 100 certified speaking professionals by the Professional Speakers Australia (PSA) and is recognised by the Global Speakers Federation (GSF) as among the top 12% of professional speakers worldwide.

Cas is an Aussie Explorer constantly pushing the boundaries of human endurance.

Most recently, on the 26th January 2012, he made history by completing the longest unsupportedpolar expedition of all time, alongside his best mate, Jonesy. In 100 years of polar exploration no-one had EVER walked from the edge of Antarctica to the South Pole and back without assistance. Many had tried, none had succeeded. After 89 gruelling days they made it back to the coast after having skied 2275km with everything they needed to survive in the harshest environment on Earth.

Dobbo has spent twenty-five years in the trenches alongside CEOs, world champion athletes, innovators, and pioneers. His clients are elite performers from every sphere – true outliers. Mark is a experienced performance coach, speaker and trainer who gets results.

Justin Jones (or other wise affectionately known as Jonesy) is one of Australia’s premier motivational speakers and extreme adventurers. Constantly pushing the boundaries of human endurance he has undertaken a number of large scale expeditions over the past 14 years. Two in particular have captured global acclaim and attention, setting 2 Guinness World records.

Ella Baché is a respected skin care brand revered across the country. You may think you know its story, but there’s so much more to this brand than meets the eye.

It all started with a bold woman, a pot of wax and the decision to stand out in the foyer of David Jones.

Now, for the first time, CEO Pippa Hallas is opening up about the journey behind the brand, the disruptions, the innovations, the mistakes, the risks - and what it really takes to steer an 80 year old business through a rapidly changing world.

A massive thank you to you both for all your assistance from selecting to co-ordinating the speakers for our annual ProLoan conference. Feedback was that this year’s speakers where the best they had EVER heard at ANY event. So this is pretty amazing, because they do go to a lot of sessions like these.

Director of Network Relationships - Proloan (aust) pty ltd

Again this year you and your team have been fantastic and extremely helpful. In regards to you Sharm, you have been an absolute star and phenomenal help with our speakers and presenters, a great communicator, wealth of knowledge and so prompt with responding and looking at ways to cater to our needs.

Event Manager Fitness Australia

I would recommend, without hesitation, the services of Jane Rowland Smith and Ovations. Jane answered a last minute call to arrange a guest speaker for our principals. Nothing was too much effort, all was arranged within hours, and went very smoothly. The guest speaker was exactly what we required and our brief was followed. Thank you Jane and the team at Ovations.

All aspects of the process has always gone seamlessly with Ovations and we will continue to seek your assistance for the awards in the coming years.

Thank you again, your help has meant that our Awards are very professional and extremely well received by our members and guests.

Executive Assistant BSCAA NSW Division

Jane, I personally want to thank you for all of your support, advice, patience and all round kindness that you have given me over the last 3 or so years. This event would not have been as successful without the valuable MC’s you have recommended and the support you provided me when it all just seemed too hard